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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France

Washed-rind (smear-ripened) cheese family (Munster and Époisses as templates)croûte lavée

A soft or semi-soft curd is drained, salted and kept in a warm, very humid cellar. Yeasts first eat the lactic acid on the surface; then the rind is washed and rubbed again and again, and salt-loving bacteria turn it sticky and orange and give the cheese its strong smell. Made in 6 steps over 15 days. The longest step, finish ripening and wrap, takes at least 14 days (INAO 2017). Salt is 19–21 % (Ritschard J.S 2024). Lactic starter bacteria and Yeasts Debaryomyces hansenii and Geotrichum candidum do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 14 daysSet[munster-cdc][epoisses-cdc]Finish ripening and wrap
Temperatureup to 38 °CSet[munster-cdc][ritschard2024]Set the milk
Salt19–21 %Reported[ritschard2024][epoisses-cdc]Salt
AciditypH 5.5Measured[bittante2022]Finish ripening and wrap
Fully documentedCheese15 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceFamily template, so the ingredients are the ones washed-rind cheeses share. The only amount is the optional caraway in Munster.
Cow milk · Munster PDO: raw, or pasteurised at no more than 73 °C for 40 s; farm Munster raw only[munster-cdc]
Lactic starter · Sours the curd before the rind flora take over[ritschard2024][munster-cdc]
Calf rennet[munster-cdc][epoisses-cdc]
Salt[munster-cdc][epoisses-cdc]
Surface cultures · Debaryomyces hansenii, Geotrichum candidum, Brevibacterium, Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus equorum; or brine from older cheeses[ritschard2024][munster-cdc]
Washing liquid · Salted or plain water; for Époisses, water with more and more Marc de Bourgogne[munster-cdc][epoisses-cdc]
0.5–1.5 % of curd weightCaraway seed (optional) · Munster au cumin[munster-cdc]
Startermesophilic lactic starter, then surface yeasts and smear bacteria from cultures or from the cellar

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days

Start
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up to 38 °C

What changes: Starter and rennet go into the milk and it sets

Step 1 of 6
Set the milk
Time
at least 7 min
Set
Temperature
up to 38 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

the starter sours the milk; Époisses is set mainly by acid

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

The rind is washed and rubbed over and over in a very humid cellar, so a bacterial smear, not a mould, ripens the cheese. Bloomy-rind cheeses grow a dry white mould felt instead.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Époisses PDOSlow lactic curd; washed with water and then more and more Marc de Bourgogne for at least 4 weeks.
  • Munster PDOVosges; washed with salted or plain water; optional caraway; at least 21 days.
  • Limburger, Herve PDOBelgian and German brick-shaped smear cheeses.
  • Taleggio PDOSquare; washed with brine.
  • Vacherin Mont d'OrWinter cheese bound in a spruce-bark band.
  • Alpine smear rinds (Gruyère, Comté, Appenzeller)Hard or semi-hard cheeses whose rinds are smeared; see the cooked alpine family.

Made the washed-rind way

Safety

The smear is moist, salty and close to neutral, and Listeria can grow on it. Washing young cheeses with brine from old ones ("old-young" smearing) can carry Listeria between batches, so food safety authorities discourage it and makers now use defined surface cultures. The UK NHS advises eating unpasteurised soft cheeses only when cooked until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, which can grow on the moist smear and spread through "old-young" smearing.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Linked to medieval monasteries; the Munster valley tradition is commonly dated to the 7th century.

  1. [munster-cdc] INAO, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine Munster ou Munster-Géromé, as proposed to the CNAOP on 29 June 2017spec
  2. [epoisses-cdc] INAO, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine Époisses (2006 version), eAmbrosia attachment 59562spec
  3. [ritschard2024] Ritschard J.S., Schuppler M. 2024, The microbial diversity on the surface of smear-ripened cheeses and its impact on cheese quality and safety, Foods 13:214paper
  4. [brennan2002] Brennan N.M., Ward A.C., Beresford T.P., Fox P.F., Goodfellow M., Cogan T.M. 2002, Biodiversity of the bacterial flora on the surface of a smear cheese, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 68:820–830paper
  5. [bittante2022] Bittante G., Amalfitano N., Cipolat-Gotet C. et al. 2022, Major causes of variation of external appearance, chemical composition, texture, and color traits of 37 categories of cheeses, Foods 11:4041paper
  6. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)gov